


Peach Blossoms

by VOlympianlove



Series: tinysparks ficlets [7]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst and Tragedy, Blood and Injury, Chinese Mythology & Folklore, Graphic Description, Heavy Angst, M/M, Yixing's Birthday Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:14:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26872768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VOlympianlove/pseuds/VOlympianlove
Summary: Even amongst flames and lightning storms, snow and ash, their love will never cease.
Relationships: Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay
Series: tinysparks ficlets [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1836628
Comments: 10
Kudos: 37
Collections: Challenge #8 — Tales of the Past





	Peach Blossoms

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not actually sure how well known this tale is considering I've never actually heard of it, as a Chinese person (but I also know like 3 famous Chinese folk tales so shame on me XP) but it's a tale called the Peach Blossom Fairy. I swear it sounds incredibly childish in English but the Mandarin title is so much prettier. 桃花仙子 (tao hua xian zi) The closest translation for xian zi is fairy but it's not really accurate to me? It's more of a immortal being sort of thing. BUT I'm not the best at Chinese folk tales and creatures so don't quote me on that. Also I'm not sure if this is considered a myth? But it was in a book of Chinese myth and folk tales so I'm just running with it. But it's a very tragic tale (spoiler) and I hope y'all enjoy the angst!

The peach trees burned, flame and smoke devouring every branch, every twig like a monster with a black hole for its stomach.

The smog was so thick it blocked out the sun, filling their lungs until they choked, tasting the ash on their tongue.

Lightning flashed, thunder rumbling in the distance but there was no rain.

“Yixing, Yixing, we have to go!”

Even with soot smeared over his face and lips, Junmyeon was still the most beautiful being Yixing had ever seen. He stumbled, crying out when a bolt of lightning struck down.

The thatched roof caught fire, embers flying in the rough wind. Yixing yelped when one landed on his arm, burning his skin.

“Come on, love. It is past saving.”

An arm wrapped around his waist and he leaned into the touch, gasping for breath.

“I wanted- I wanted it to be different,” Yixing sobbed as he was pulled away. The air coated his lungs, it was so hard to breathe. “I wanted you to have- the most beautiful peaches.”

“It will grow again. It will,” Junmyeon whispered soothingly.

A hand touched his hair, trembling lips pressing against the side of his head. Yixing whimpered, knees buckling.

“One day, we will cover this mountaintop with the most beautiful peach trees,” Junmyeon murmured into his hair. He coughed violently, hand clutching at his chest and fear coiled like a viper in Yixing’s belly.

“Junmyeon?” He grabbed his hand, cupping Junmyeon’s dirty cheek.

“It is nothing, love. We must go. The fire will take everything. I’ll be damned if I let it take you too,” Junmyeon said.

It was hard to walk when the air was so full of dust and soot and ash and their mountain burned behind them, orange flames boiling over the trees, the house.

Yixing clutched at Junmyeon, panic spiking every time he coughed and hacked.

“We should stop,” he said when Junmyeon doubled over, hacking up a lung. Fingers stained with ash twined in his and he lifted it, pressing his lips against the blackened skin.

They appeared out of nowhere, soldiers dressed in armour from the Heavens. Their gold lances gleamed even in the dark, black eyes peeking out from under heavy helmets.

“Zhang Yixing. The Queen Mother demands your presence.”

“What?” Junmyeon gasped. His face had turned the colour of the moon, too pale and sickly. Yixing grabbed for him when his knees buckled, falling with him.

“It’s nothing. Nothing at all,” he murmured when Junmyeon coughed again, convulsing in his arms.

His heart stopped when blood trickled out of the corner of Junmyeon’s mouth.

“Junmyeon!”

Junmyeon’s eyes stared up at him, glassy. Yixing cupped his cheek with a trembling hand, a knife twisting further in his gut.

“Junmyeon, don’t you dare,” he breathed, a sob catching in his throat. Their wedding rings clinked against each other when he cradled him closer. “Junmyeon, you _promised._ ”

But Junmyeon never moved again.

The scream that tore from Yixing’s chest was almost inhuman. His heart shattered all over the ground as he clutched Junmyeon close, pressing his lips against cold, dead ones.

When he raised his head, the flames on the mountain had gone out. The soldiers too, leaving an eerie silence behind.

The entire mountain was bare, the ground covered in a layer of grey ash. It blew up into the air as he walked, like a ghost back up to where their home had been, Junmyeon’s body already growing cold.

The ground was hard and the rocks made his fingers bleed but Yixing kept on digging.

He buried Junmyeon amongst the ashes of his beloved forest, where they had first met. 

Yixing wept for a night and day, watering the ground with his tears. When the sun came up again, illuminating the desolation all around him, a little sapling appeared atop Junmyeon’s grave.

It was a little peach sapling, strong and healthy.

_I want our mountain to be known for our peaches. Big and juicy and beautiful._

Junmyeon’s words echoed in his mind. Yixing could almost taste the bitterness of that tiny peach Junmyeon had offered him. Despite the tears pooling in his eyes, he smiled.

Alone, he rebuilt their home with his bare hands, tending to the little sapling every day, determined that one day he would fulfil Junmyeon’s dream.

For three years, the sapling grew and grew into a magnificent tree. But there was not a flower or fruit to be seen. Still, Yixing could not bear to leave it.

Until one day, an old woman passed him by.

“Why do you tend to this single tree?” she asked. “The forest is gone. There is no place for you here.”

The wind picked up at her words, snowflakes beginning to fall from the sky. Soon, they had covered the entire mountain in white and Yixing’s hair was speckled with them.

He offered his coat to the old woman, a pained smile tugging on his lips.

“Because my husband died for this forest. I _will_ fulfil his wish if it is the last thing I do.”

He caressed the leaves of the tree tenderly, Junmyeon’s beautiful face floating into his mind.

The old woman sneered.

“You ask for too much, young man. For a tree drenched in grief to bloom, I’m afraid only your blood sacrifice would do.”

With that, she vanished into the swirling snow.

Yixing laughed aloud.

His blood?

His hair tumbled down past his shoulders when he pulled out his hairpin, levelling the sharp point at his chest. With no hesitation, he stabbed it straight into his heart.

Metallic blood burst on his tongue as crimson splattered all over the peach tree.

Yixing collapsed against the trunk, smiling. Through the darkness, he saw Junmyeon, framed in delicate peach blossoms.

He was waiting for him.

Peach trees sprung up on the mountainside years later, one after the other. Their branches were always laden with fruit and their blossoms, speckled with the crimson blood of a man who once tended Heaven’s Gardens.


End file.
